It is a known fact that man in this fast-growing materialistic world often tends to give up on his materialistic greed and becomes selfish. Apart from being selfish, a man who is known as a social animal has become less social physically and more social in the virtual world. His dependency on technology has made him completely lazy and inactive. From destroying a building to cutting nails everything is possible today with the help of gadgets.
The use of gadgets like mobiles, laptops, and tablets along with others has a very serious problem. Excessive Internet/Gaming/Mobile addiction, a worrying trend even in pre-covid days, has reached new heights during the pandemic, say, psychologists and counselors, as many children who went online for classes and social interaction turned into compulsive trends. In this article let us look at Gadget Addiction and how it affects human relationships.
Today, technology and gadgets are used for almost everything. We use it to pay bills, order food online, play games, social media, shop online, etc. We use it to an extent where we can say that instead of the gadgets becoming our slaves we have become slaves of gadgets.
Gadget Addiction
Today we do not find a single sphere in life where there is no use for gadgets. Imagining a world without our loved ones or family may be easier for many than imagining a world without gadgets. Watching TV while eating food is the new trend, people have come to an extent where eating food without a screen seems like lifting a mountain. Earlier families used to share each other’s happiness and sadness but now siblings do not even know what work or study another sibling is occupied. The families are completely disconnected. Much of homes today are upgrading to smart homes. But it wouldn’t be wrong to call it degrading.
In the new smart homes, man can operate everything with the help of his voice. All one has to do is to give directions and the gadgets will do the rest. The culture of asking for help, elders giving chores to younger generations, and doing our own work has drastically decreased. The effect of such small things can be very drastic on a family system and in turn on society. The younger generation becoming lazy due to their gadgets will break down the family system. The younger ones have the responsibility to earn money and run the family, but his gadget addiction has now made him good for nothing. The relationship between husband and wife is also very toxic nowadays. The interdependence of man and woman has also decreased with the growing number of gadgets. The advancement in science has led to the retraction of human values of upholding relationships. People are becoming more introverted with every passing day.
Gadgets And Child Growth
Parenthood is the most beautiful relationship. Although a family begins with marriage it grows and becomes stronger with the addition of a child. The upbringing of a child and inculcating within him values and upholding the spirit of human relationships through the next generation is a huge responsibility. But the excessive use of gadgets results in a bad upbringing for a child and in turn, this results in bad relationships as children form the foundation of a society.
Parents in order to silence a crying child choose to increase their screen time. Kids with such an upbringing are less likely to respect relationships. The use of gadgets results in drastic brain development, no exposure to nature, obesity, and deprivation of sleep in children. Excessive use of gadgets also results in attention deficits like Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and delay in speech and language. Using a screening tool, researchers found that the more handheld screen time a child’s parent reported, the more likely the child was to have delays in expressive speech, concluding that for each 30-minute increase in screen time, a child was 49 percent more likely to be at risk of expressive speech delay.
The study found that the more time children between the ages of six months and two years spent using handheld screens such as smartphones, tablets, and play stations, the more likely they were to experience speech delays.
Gadgets and Gaming
The gaming industry is growing rapidly. The number of games based on violence, shooting, killing, wars, etc too has increased. Such games tend to lean human behavior towards violence. Children and Adults who are used to gaming tend to react to everything with a violent temperament. They tend to have toxic relationships with everyone, be it their family or friends. Any relationship which has violence in it tends to weaken. Apart from violence, games are promoting obscenity too. Using obscene images of women has become a generalized norm. Such obscenity in any society will lead to moral degradation and in turn, will lead to increased sexual offenses affecting marital relationships.
Impact Of Social Media
Social media is having an adverse effect on relationships. People tend to expect their partners, friends, and family members to act in the same way they perceive someone on social media. Looking at the world and expecting that the same will happen to us is the new trend of social media. This spoils relationships to the core. Expectations that are far from reality have led to mental illness. Being content and happy with the blessings we have is something that is very uncommon these days. Waste of time, lack of privacy, lack of interaction, etc are some of the other issues.
How to fix this?
Fixing this addiction is very important. The best way to fix this addiction is by increasing mutual understanding between the family members. A saying goes like this: “Family Which Eats Together Stays Together”. People should try to sit together without using the internet or any other gadgets for 30 minutes. Serving others is a blessing that only a few people receive. Chores that can be done physically easily should be done without the help of gadgets. The over-dependence on gadgets should be decreased. Screen time must be reduced. Parents must ensure that digital learning for kids is done in the right manner. Reading hours, Game time, etc must be Organised and the whole family should spend time together at such events.
Conclusion
Everyone might have experienced this or probably you might have not even realized that you might have missed out on a very emotional moment to you, only because you were sporting earphones and you did not even realize that the special moment has been lost forever. We say that the world is at our fingertips today. With the help of all the gadgets we possess, we have probably brought the entire world together, but is it really so? Because when we look back at our own homes, the question arises as to whether we have not created a huge wall within our own homes and families.
